Means for operating automobile speed signals



Nov. 10 1925. 1,560,844

A. w. OLDS MEANS FOR OPERATING AUTOMOBILE SPEED SIGNALS Filed July 31, 1922 Patented Nov. 10, 1925.

ALFRED till-155; OF wifibsbii, cane-emcee.

M'mms nokomimmm AUTfiMO-BILE"SPEED'SINALS;

Ajphcat'ionfild-iuly a1, 1922. Serial in 578,839.

I To all whom it mag iaoncmm:

Be it known tliat'I, Afni nnni wwQnnsacitizen of the United States, resi ding at \Yindsor, in the county o f Hartford and State of: Connecticut, have invented a new and l use-fu l; Improvement in; Means for? Op:

erating Autoniobile:SpeedSigna-ls, of which-- which? are designed to be apipli'ecttoj pleasure and; commercial automobiles to; autoniati-- cally' 'causing alight; sign or other warning signal tocindieate change inthe rate of trav-' el of the vehicle;

.Theobj ect of the invention is to 'piiovide an inexpensive, effective and;- sensitive app pa at-us of this: character which can be read-1 1y. applied to ain automobile and ,co'n-nected withja rotatinglpait of the vehicleso as-toact l in-v consonanc'ew therewithgq and I be con nected in an electric circuit -whichincludes a light, sign on other warningsi-gnal, in such manner that when-the vehicleis travelingg} at lllllfQIHl: speed or at an increasing spjeed-thecirenit willi be open, but at-alb times, ,nomatter.- at what fratethe vehicle is traveling, when the; speed" is reduced the circuit will-be closed and the light, sigiioy sign'aL light give warning; of the 1 reduction oi speeds U And "further to. provide means whereby, the. driving shaft is reiheved oi shockiwhen, stafting or st-oppingjandthe signal indieation will continue for a definite period when the apparatus ,functions,

Iii-the embodiment ot the --invention that is 1 illustrated 151161 6 is a spind le which de atO attachn entiofa 'di'iving ishaft whic-li ineans will: slip 01Ey'l6ld SO that; the' action s of the apparatus (will: take' place withont shocli or rebound. h i

e -In -the accompanying; drawings Figure: 1 shows a pla n of one form of the operating device with the casing-moverremoved. 1 Fig;

2 shows central vertical section of the sainei Fig 3 shows;on laigerscale agsection of the outer; endf the spindle; and the means by which itis' designed tobe connectedwith a dr-ivir gsheft. Fig.2-4--is a-view of'an arituat:

ing ca-nithat inay be applied to the spindle in this 01111]Ofhh 6 lHYBl1tlOlY;- Fig. -5 is a seetionoi a portion of the device with a modified illflangeinent -of-ci1 'cuit controlling.

nieans; Eig ois a planof the fly wheel of this 'inodi-fied torn]. Fig; 7 is a detail show ing; another arrangement of circuit closing a The device illustrated is enclosed in :1. cylindrical casing 1 that is provided with a bracket 2 by meansot which it may beattached to the vehicle and a cover 3 which may be removed to pennitaccess'tothe inteiio'r of the casing; This spindle 1 is mounted to turi'i-freelyon anti-friction bea'i ings 5-set in ahuh 6 that projects from the casing.- The bearing cone 7 is screwed onto the lower end; of the spindle and under this cone-is 'a'washe'r Sand a lock nut 9. I Looselymountedon the lowerendof the spindle is a thin'ihle 10 between the upper end of which and the lock nut-is a f fictionwasfher 11 preferably; of cork.- The thimhle 1s prsisednpwardlyby'a sp1'ings'l2. The lower endofthe thiinble is notched,-' as at: 13, for the attachnien'tfof acoupling on the end of afle'xi-ble drivingsha'ft. A; cap 14 is screwed onto the huh over; this lower bearing and thei'friction clutch. h

eR-o'tatably mounted on the 'spi ndle is a wheel 15, there being ant-i friction; bearings 1 6} between the -fiy; wheel'and the spindie In 'the' co 'istruction shown there isra pin 17v projeetingi voutwardly from'the' r-bear ing;c0ne 1S thatis fastened to thespindle; which pin is adapted to engag a stud-.19 p ojecti ng: downwardly from-the flywheel in such;- n ann ei"- that" when the spindle is rotate d- -fo 'wa'i'dly the pin engages the stud and drives the fly fwheel, but the fly wheel is free to run ahead of the spindle one revo1u tion.

' A-sp ingfltl ;-ha s one [endconnected with the sp ndle -and;itsother end fastened t --'a stnd 2lscrewed ;into --thefly wheel; This spring; is-;-ar'ranged to yieldinglyihold "the fly wheel in such relation to the spindle that the pin-17 is normallyj engaged with the stud?19.; The spring-allows the fly wheel to rune-head of the spindle but= returns the pants to'nonnal' position when the speed of the fly wheel is reduced to that of the spindle.

In the form first shown a cam 22 is attached to the upper end of the s pindle and a spring finger 23 is fastened to the fly wheel in such manner that its free, end will rest upon the edge of the cam. With the parts in their normal position and the fly wheel rotating at the same speed as the spindle, the end of the spring lies in the cutdown section 24 of the cam. When the fly wheel rotates faster than the spindle the spring finger rides up on the incline 25 of the cam. lVhen the spring finger is raised by the cam it is'caused to engage with the terminal 26 of the binding post 27 so as to close the circuit 28 through the signaling means 29, which may bear lamp, or any other well known sign or warning signal.

When the spindleis rotated it drives the fly wheel forward through the engagementof the pin 17 with the stud 19. At all times, regardless of'the actual rate of speed of the vehicle, when the speed is reduced and the rotation of the spindle slackened the fly wheel, due to its momentum runs ahead of the spindle, and as it runs ahead of the spindle the cam on the end of the spindle lifts the spring finger carried by the fly wheel into engagement with the terminal contact and closes the circuit so that the signal will give warning of the reduction of speed of the vehicle If the speed of the vehicle ishigh and the momentum of the fly wheel is considerable the spindle is carried around after the fly wheel has made one complete revolution, by the engagement of the pin and stud, the friction clutch which is at the end of the spindle and which is designed to be connected with the driving shaft, permitting this. hen the momentum of the fly wheel has been expended and its. speed reduced to that of the spindle it is returnedby the spring so that the driving pin and stud are again in contact. As it is returned to normal position'thespring finger rides down the cam and opens the circuit, showing that the vehicle after slowing down, has either resumed uniform speed or has stopped.

As shown in Fig. 5 the upper end of the spindle can be threaded and provided with j a nut having a finger 31 connected with a stud 32 fastened to the fly wheel.- On this nut is a contact 33 which engages a spring finger 34; fastened to the cover. Withthis construction when the-fly wheel moves faster than the spindle the nut is turned onfthe threaded end of the spindle and raised so as to press the endof the spring finger 34 into engagement with the circuit terminal 35. Whenthe fly wheel speed is reduced to that of the spindle the spring '20 returns it to normal position and the return movement lowers the nut and opens the circuit. An

' than the spindle.

advantage of this form is that the circuit is opened and closed between two parts that are fixed to the cover and do not rotate.

As shown in Fig. 7 the spring finger contact 36 could be applied directly to the nut 37 .in such position that when the nut is raised by the excess speed of the fly wheel over that of the spindle, the spring finger is engaged with. the circuit terminal 26. lVhen the fly wheel and spindle are rotating at the same speed the nut is drawn down so as to open the circuit.

With all of these forms whenever the rotation of the spindle is retarded by the slowing down of the vehicle the fly wheel runs ahead under its momentum and closes the circuit so as to cause the signal to give Warning of the fact that the vehicle is reducing speed. The device is very sensitive as the fly wheel has considerable weight and'is mounted upon anti-friction bearings. There is no shock when the structure is started moving nor when it functions, owing to the slippage provided bythe frictionclutch at the end of the spindle, and owing to the same factor there is no rebound of the parts when the spring returns the fly wheel. Furthermore owing to the slippage of the clutch when the wheel runs ahead the warning signal is continued for a longer period than would otherwise be the case.

The invention claimed is:

1. Means for operating an automobile speed signal comprising a rotatory spindle adapted to be driven from the vehicle, a weighted member rotatably mounted on and adapted to be driven forwardly by the spindle but free to rotate ahead of the spindle due to its momentum whenthe rotation of the spindle is retarded, a spring connecting the weighted member and the spindle and tensioned. to rotate the weighted member backward after it has run ahead of the spindle and its excess momentum has been exhausted, a fixed circuit terminal, a circuit contact, and means on theend of the spindle adapted to press said contact into engagement with said terminal when the weighted member due to its momentum rotates faster 2. Means for "operating an automobile speed signalcomprising a rotatory spindle adapted to be driven from the vehicle, a weighted member rotatably mounted on and adapted to be driven forwardly by the spindle but free torotate ahead'of the'spindle due to its momentum when the rotation of the spindle-is retarded, a spring connectin the-"weighted member andthe spindle an tensioned to rotate the weighted member backward after it has run ahead ofthe spindle and its excess momentum has been exhausted, a fixed circuit terminal, a'circuit contact carried by the weighted membenand means attached to the end of thespindle adapted to press said contact into engagement with said terminal when the weighted member due to its momentum runs faster than the spindle.

3. Means for operating an automobile speed signal comprising a rotatory spindle adapted to be driven from the vehicle, a weighted member rotatably mounted on and adapted to be driven forwardly by the spindle but free to run ahead of the spindle due to its momentum when the rotation of the spindle is retarded, a spring connecting the weighted member and the spindle and tensioned to rotate the weighted member back- Ward after it has run ahead of the spindle and its excess momentum has been exhausted, a fixed circuit terminal, a circuit contact i carried by the weighted member, and a cam attached to the end of the spindle and adapted to press said contact into enga ement, with said terminal when the weightec memher due to its momentum runs faster than the spindle.

v ALFRED V. OLDS. 

